I'm kind of torn on that. On one hand I agree, because the little I've seen of Pesonen suggests he'd be do well in a top 6 role and they haven't found a fit on the left side of either Malkin or Crosby.

On the other hand, I've never been a fan of the "give him a shot, he can't be any worse" reasoning for anything.

The funny thing is that Letang hasn't been that far off. He's been as complete a defender as you could ask. Gogo has been putting the puck more than you'd expect from a player of his experience level which may or may not make up for his defensive deficiencies, but he's far ahead of where you'd expect him to be at this point.

Like I said in another thread, I missed about half of tonight's game, but overall I haven't seen much to complain about with Letang. He got embarrassed on Hunter's goal the other night, but that's part bad luck/bad bounce as much as anything. I think he's held up extremely well given the large load on his shoulders and is contributing in every way a defenseman can. Goligoski's definitely been rough, but he's a rookie defenseman being given a large responsibility with the top two D out. He'll eventually end up back in the minors to work on things and will be back even better next year. There's just that percentage of fans that have no sense of patience or perspective when it comes to young players.

Old Time Hockey wrote:Send down Pesonen and call Minard up too. Pesonen is no where near ready to play in the NHL.

And you based your conclusion on the entire 6 minutes of ice time he was given tonight on the fourth line? And Gogo and Letang are playing poorly? Sorry but posts like this make me wanna puke.

The Sabres are a solid team and work as hard or harder than any team in the league. And go figure Ruff lights a fire under Afinogenov's butt by calling him out. As he turns in an effort that if he played like that every night he'd be making 5-6-7 million per easy.

Reality: The Pens lost a tough road game. Against a solid goalie. With a rookie in net(who made three spectacular saves by the way). They are now 8-2-1 in November.

Yeah wake up RS. Fire MT, and trade everyone.... ugh.

Look, Pesonen has played about 15 minutes of hockey in the nhl... and Letang and Goligoski are young enough to be my kids! You cant expect these BOYS to be Bobby Orr, Nik Lidstrom. And so what if Pesonen isnt turning the league upside down like Teemu Selanne did in Winnipeg. His playing allowed MT to send a message to Fedotenko by scratching him. That alone was worth it.

Back to our young dmen... I'll simply remind all of a quote that Scotty Bowman said last year:"A lot of people maybe haven't said it," Bowman said at the time, "but I think they had a big change when they got Letang in the lineup."

I see Letang as this: A bit of a offensive disappointment, but a pleasant surprise in all other aspects of his game. At 21, I expect him to get substantially better by even this time next year. I have a lot of faith in the kid.

Goligoski reminds me of Brain Rafalski in a lot of ways (and not just two Americans with Polish last names). He will not be as well rounded as Letang, and I don't think he has as much overall potential, but his offensive skills will have me comfortable with him and Whiteny manning the PP point of the future.

Only a few more weeks until Whitney comes back, and then folks can go back to complaining about him. Letang and Goligoski will get a much needed reprieve as the experts turn their attention back to the man they love to hate.

bill from turtle creek wrote:Only a few more weeks until Whitney comes back, and then folks can go back to complaining about him. Letang and Goligoski will get a much needed reprieve as the experts turn their attention back to the man they love to hate.

I can't wait. Complaining about Whitney and Staal are what gets me through the day. I can't run at 50% much longer.

I have been much more impressed with Letang then Goligoski. Goligoski is a good offensive d man but is very weak defensivly at the moment. He will develop into a good player, but he makes a ton of mistakes out there...

KG wrote:I have been much more impressed with Letang then Goligoski. Goligoski is a good offensive d man but is very weak defensivly at the moment. He will develop into a good player, but he makes a ton of mistakes out there...

I see the same things, but he's a year behind the curve. To be doing as well as these two are this young is very good for the future though. It's not like either was a 1st rounder, but they are playing like young 1st rounders back there imo.

KG wrote:I have been much more impressed with Letang then Goligoski. Goligoski is a good offensive d man but is very weak defensivly at the moment. He will develop into a good player, but he makes a ton of mistakes out there...

I see the same things, but he's a year behind the curve. To be doing as well as these two are this young is very good for the future though. It's not like either was a 1st rounder, but they are playing like young 1st rounders back there imo.

Looking back on Tang's draft year, he'd be a top 10 pick if they redrafted today.